My mother has many fantastic qualities. Cooking was never one of them. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cook, she just worked her ass off—often on the night shift—and our dinners tended to be quick, easy and often created with the assistance of Campbell’s condensed soup.

Some mouth-breathing hick left a homophobic message on his server’s receipt and like any good millennial, the server posted the thing online and let the internet have at it. Though he did block out the customer’s information, the Hickory Tavern still fired the server for violating company policy. I would like to fire…

Oh, how I love me a good boilermaker. Usually that takes the form of a Four Roses Small Batch and a Tecate, but I also recognize that there is a burgeoning field of more creative boilermakers out there. This Punch article rounds up some intriguing ones, including mezcal and cider; and Averna and IPA. I love Amaro…

Between polar caps cracking, volcanos erupting, and out-of-control bovine, it feels like the end of the world as we know it. But you know what? We feel fine. Here at The Takeout, we’ve hand-selected 11 food-and-beverage holiday gift ideas to help us all navigate this new world order. Or perhaps you’re not as cynical…

Reporters can rarely get teachers to speak on the record about what’s happening inside their schools. Teachers who are outspoken about problems in their school districts often end up fired, demoted or reprimanded. Which is why Chicago magazine’s piece allowing teachers to talk candidly—and anonymously—about what they…

Is porridge funnier than oatmeal? That’s the question posed (and answered) in this Aeon article penned by two psycholinguistics professors. As writers, we here at The Takeout spend more time than you’d imagine nitpicking our word choices, especially in headlines. We want to use words in ways that surprise, delight,…

Why smell like vanilla or musk when you can bask in the magical smell of roast beef and gravy? Gastro Obscura spoke to perfumer Christopher Brosius, whose Brooklyn-based “perfume gallery” features unique scents that he swears aren’t as meaty-smelling as they sound: “Most perfumes smell sweet or smoky, but CB BEAST…

Can you imagine a third of your town disappearing overnight? It happened in 2008, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeted a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in an immigration raid. They detained more than 380 undocumented workers, leaving the town decimated. Ultimately, 1,000 terrified immigrants left…